merry christmas

This year was E's first Christmas. 

We trekked into Minnesota, thankful for the crazy-mild winter weather, to spend time
with R's side of the family.

E and C were quite the pair all weekend - best buddies.

 

My favorite part of the weekend was watching these two interact. Little C was so excited about his cousin. He would wake up from his naps and call E's name right away. And she would crawl around, doing her best to keep up with him the entire time.

 Uncle J seems to be E's favorite. I think it's because they always do goofy things together.

 Family photo on Christmas Day.

Notice the ridiculous pile of gifts.

 Pausing for a picture takes way too long for an 11-month-old.

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Sweet little elf.

the definition of insanity.

My friend Ally and I were excited to have a night out together.
We have known each other for almost 4 blissful years but don't hang out nearly enough.

(And I also do not use that nickname enough when I address her.)

When the royal wedding rolled around, we were excited to party together like it was 1999.

Thankfully, we found two ridiculously handsome young men roaming the halls

and convinced them to dance {like fools} with us all evening long.

 

Much of our evening was spent trying to capture the perfect snapshot.

Oh, but were we successful?

You be the judge. 

(And Herr Einstein rolls over in his grave.)

Fourteen Minutes.

Unintentional date night in. While looking for the newest episode of Modern Family, we found the CMAs. We watched approximately two totally inappropriate minutes of gross dancing, and that was the end of that.

So we did what any normal parents would do while their kid is in bed: Cranked up my newly created playlist, "Songs That Don't Get Old," and just went crazy.  What started out as a romantic slow dance in the living room quickly turned to a little friendly competition. Subtle cues from the two-minute CMA fiasco may or may not have made an appearance in our kitchen.

Perhaps the term "date night" is a bit of a misnomer. It wasn't so much quality time together as it was each person focusing on their own moves so as to one-up the other.

Many times, this meant my wife screaming, "I have been doing this thing with my arms for five minutes! Just. Look." But I couldn't, because I was in the middle of a rodeo move on a kitchen stool, and I wasn't about to be interrupted.

Not to be outdone, she looked at the clock at 8:46 and declared, "I will not move at all except using dance moves until 9:00." Her eyes were apparently bigger than her belly-dance, because the next thing out of her mouth was a collection of gasps, and then, "It's only been 4 minutes?"

She kept her promise and shimmied the whole 840 seconds. We will definitely be filling our evenings with dance-offs more often.

ten months old.

10 months. 

That's pretty close to 12, if you're keeping track.

She seemed to warm up to her buddy, but she didn't actually have much time to spend...

You know, before moving on.

During month 9, Little Ditty's favorite thing has been getting into everything. 

Lip gloss, iPod, and wallet (in that order). Everything she needs - just like her mama!

 

Milestones since last month:

• Crawling! The for-real kind!
• Posture preference: Standing. All the time.
•  Clapping.
• New words: Hi. Bye. (Those are perfect.) Puppy. (Puppy sounds a lot like "daddy," but it's distinct enough that we can tell the difference. And she only says it when Emilio barks. So cute.)
• Two new teeth. Fangs. Our little Twilight.
• Halloween. (Wanna see?)

 We have the hardest time getting good photos of her teeth.

You know what they say: You have to kiss a few frogs...

 

 

Before you realize that the best way to get teeth pictures is to flip the daughter upside down. 

Make her laugh - then hurry up and take the photo!

videos = sunshine for you.

We stumbled across a few amazing music videos today.

They're old(er), so we're late to the party. 

But it's still a party.

Don't be a snob - join us anyway.

(The original video for this one is also wonderful.)

Happy weekending!

Happy Halloween.

Happy Halloween!
From...

Jack & Diane

Little Ditty...

(Whose pants weren't actually highwaters.)

And John Mellencanine.

John Wilkes Photo Boothe.

One million years ago, I wrote this entry about my darling cousin's wedding 

and how it was such an elegant affair.

 (I have not had as much fun since.) 

Finally, finally, the photos from the photo booth have been posted.

I'm not sure what I will do with all my free time now, 

as I have spent the last month clicking "refresh" every 5 minutes between the hours of 6 pm and midnight.

They are totally worth the wait!

Handsome groom, sons W&R, and beautiful bride.

My brother and his wife, their sweet children, and my grandma.

The wedding was in Septembeard Septembstache, but I still wanted to look feminine.

...Ok, we both wanted to.

The next several are the reason I waited so impatiently.
Us with L (my little sister) and J.

When we are together...

...we usually laugh...

...but only a little.

Definitely always love.

My uncle-ele and cousins. All beautiful.

Bestie. Too kind.

Please don't let the questioning look on my face alarm you.

R went with a sweeter sentiment, obviously.

More cousins. More fun.

Love and the groom were in the air.

Heels over head for each other?!